Toothbrush



Jan. 19, 1960 A. J. LAUTMANN TOOTHBRUSH Filed Oct; 9, 1956 INVENTOR. ALFRED J. LAUTMANN ATTORNEYS United States Patent TOOTHBRUSH Alfred J. Lautmann, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Iodent Chemical Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application October 9, 1956, Serial No. 614,899

1 Claim. (Cl. 15145) This invention relates to tooth brushes and in particular to a two part collapsible type tooth brush.

A common type of traveling accessory is a two part collapsible type tooth brush adapted to be carried in an unobtrustive fashion, and among the objects of the present invention is to fashion the brush member and the separablev handle member with a mating stem and socket which can be easily joined in a manner that assures firm locking of the parts together against relative movement one in respect of the other. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to form one of the members of the toothbrush with an opening or passage adapted to communicate with the socket in which the stem is to be inserted so as to enable air to be exhausted from the socket during such insertion and also to prevent a vacuum lock when the tooth brush is to be disassembled or collapsed.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claim and are illustrated in the accompanying drawing which, by way of illustration, shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the principle thereof and what I now consider to be the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principle may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claim.

, In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the tooth brush of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the brush;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale of mating inner ends of the brush members disassembled;

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken substantially on the lines 44 and 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is an end view taken substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 3;

Figs. 7 and 8 are sectional views taken substantially on the lines 7--7 and 8-8 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 3; and

Fig. 10 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale, slightly exaggerated as to the tapers, showing the assembly.

The present invention is illustrated in the drawing as embodied in a tooth brush TB having a brush member 10 and a handle member 11. The brush member at one end is provided with bristles 16 secured in the usual fashion to a relatively fiat and rectangular portion 17 of the brush member 10. Rearwardly of the portion 17 of the brush member having the bristles 16 afiixed thereto, the brush member is necked down at 18, and rearwardly of the necked down portion the brush member preferably embodies an enlarged portion 20 of rounded contour which defines what may be termed the socket or inner end portion of the brush member 10.

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Thus, the end portion 20 of the brush member 10 is bored internally to provide a socket having an elongated inner section 22 and an enlarged outer section 23 which is open at the end of the brush member 10. Between the sections 22 and 23 of the socket in the brush member 10, an annular shoulder or abutting surface 24 is provided, and the section 22 of the socket has a dead end 25 within the brush member 10. The section 22 of the socket is hexagonal affording fiat internal faces 26 for reasons to be explained herein below, and is tapered inwardly slightly at T, Fig. 10, from the shoulder 24 toward the dead end 25. This taper is approximately A" per foot. diameter.

The handle member 11 includes an elongated generally flat and rectangular portion 30 of predetermined size and dimension for facile gripping, and is provided at its outer end with the usual hook receiving opening 33. The inner end of the grip portion 30 of the handle member 11 opposite the opening 33 is preferably flared outwardly as viewed in side elevation and is of rounded con-tour at 35 to provide a pleasing mergence of the two members 10 and 11 when the brush is assembled.

At what might be termed the inner end of the handle,

member 11 a stem 36'is provided, and this stem is complemental to the section 22 of the brush member including flat, elongated external faces 37, Fig. 7, of hexagonal arrangement and a taper T-1, Fig. 10, complemental to the taper of the socket section 22. It will be'observed that the stem 36 is of reduced dimension in respect of the flared portion 35 of the handle member, and such construction affords an annular external shoulder 40 on the handle member adapted to abut the internal shoulder 24 of the brush member when the stem 36 has been fully inserted in the section 22 of the socket in the brush member 10. The flared portion 35 of the handle member 11 which affords the shoulder 40 includes a forward portion 41, Figs. 8 and 9, which is of uniform or constant diameter corresponding to the constant diameter of the section 23 of the socket in the brush member, so that when the members are assembled the portion 41 of the handle member is disposed complementally in section 23 of the socket in the brush member as particularly shown in Fig. 2. By tapering the stem 36 complemental to the taper of the section 22 of the socket in the brush member, the narrow end of the stem 36 will first enter at the Wide end of the socket in the brush member as will be apparent from Fig. 10, and this greatly expedites and facilitates assemblage of the parts. Moreover, the stem 36 having a flat face as 37 complemental to a corresponding flat face in the socket of the brush member assures that the tooth brush can be manipulated during use without relative rotation of the two members occurring.

It is essential in a tooth brush of the kind herein described to afford a relatively tight fit of the mating members so that in assemblage of the two parts a slight press fi is entailed suflicient to prevent endwise or axial displacement of the handle 11 relative to the brush member 10 except the forced displacement required to disassociate the parts. Because of this, it has been found advantageous in accordance with the present invention to afford escape for air within the socket of the brush member during insertion of the stem 36 therein, and this also assures that the force required to disassociate or collapse the parts will not be resisted by a vacuum lock within the socket. Under the present invention, this advantageous relation is assured by an opening in one of the members adapted to communicate with the socket in the brush member, and in the present instance this opening takes the form of a pair of slots 45 formed in the exterior face of the flared portion 35 of the handle Section 23 of the socket is of constant member, these slots being substantially coextensive in length with the portion 41 of the handle member having a constant diameter. It will be observed that the slots 45 open at the shoulder 40 at diametrical points, and the opposite ends of the slots 45 are preferably filleted at 46. It is to be stressed that the slots 45 are of greater length than the depth of the section 23 of the socket in the brush member.

Accordingly, when the stem 36 is inserted in the wide end of the section 22 of the stem-receiving socket, air that would otherwise be subjected to a. constantly increasing pressure is enabled to escape through the slots 45 thereby allowing the stem 36 to be fully inserted easily without having to Work against air pressure. When fully inserted, the free end of the stem abuts the dead end 25 of the socket, the shoulders 24 and 40 abut and the filleted ends of the slots 45 are outwardly of the open end of the socket in the brush member as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

When the handle member 11 is to be withdrawn relative to the brush member 10, the filleted ends 46 of the slots 45, being outwardly of portion 23 of the socket in the brush member, again afford communication to the ambient atmosphere preventing a vacuum or suction lock.

Hence, while I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention it is to be understood that this is capable of variation and modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claim.

I claim:

A two-part toothbrush comprising an elongated brush member having bristles secured to one end thereof, said brush member having an elongated socket formed in the opposite end thereof, said elongated socket including an enlarged outer section of substantially circular configuration which is open at said opposite end of the brush member, said socket also including an elongated inner section having a dead end within the brush member and having an open end in communication with the central portion of the enlarged outer section, an annular shoulder being provided between said outer section and said inner section, said inner section having a plurality of flat faces arranged in a regularly spaced and symmetrical manner and said inner section being tapered inwardly from said shoulder toward said dead end, said toothbrush also including a handle member having at one end thereof a forward portion of constant diameter corresponding to the constant diameter of said enlarged outer section in the brush member, said forward portion being seated tightly within said enlarged outer section, said handle member also including a stem portion of reduced dimension extending forwardly from said forward portion, an annular shoulder being defined between said forward portion and said stem portion, said lastmentioned annular shoulder being seated against said first-mentioned annular shoulder, said stem portion having a plurality of flat faces equal in number and identical in symmetry to the flat faces of said brush member whereby the brush member and the stem portion have no particular orientation for assembly, said stem portion tapering forwardly from said forward portion to the outer end of the stem portion, the taper of the stem portion being complemental to that of the elongated inner section of the brush member, and a pair of slots at diametrically opposite positions in the exterior face of said forward portion of the handle member, these slots being substantially co-extensive in length with said forward portion having a constant diameter, these slots having a greater length than that of the enlarged outer section formed in the brush member whereby when the handle member is in operative position, the slots extend from a point adjacent the shoulder formed in the socket in the brush member to a point exterior of said other end of the brush member such that air is enabled to escape through the slots such that the stem portion may be fully inserted Within said elongated inner section of the brush member to a point where the outer end of the stem portion abuts the dead end of the socket.

References Cited in the file of this patent Great Britain June 15, 1949 

